Bush Administration Fails to Sign Accord on Secret Detentions; ACLU Says Programs Must be Shut Down Permanently

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON – Responding to the Bush administration’s decision not to sign an international accord regarding secret detentions and forced disappearances, the American Civil Liberties Union today expressed disappointment and urged Congress to examine the government’s policies and practices that would have conflicted with the agreement — and to shut down permanently all secret detention programs and facilities and end the practice of illegal kidnapping.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

“Our government’s practice of kidnapping people off the streets and sending them to secret detention cells violates due process and core American values. This is the behavior we expect of repressive regimes and not from our government. The accord sought to bring an end to forced disappearances, used by dictatorships to secretly detain, arrest or kidnap individuals and then deny it occurred.

“We urge Congress to shine a bright light on our government’s use secret detention and rendition. The Bush administration should stop stonewalling congressional efforts to examine these abuses of basic due process and human rights. Congress must permanently shut down these secret programs and facilities.

The ACLU’s Report to the Committee Against Torture is available at: www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/25354pub20060427.html